Total brings Pangea III supercomputer online to improve operations

Major energy player Total has deployed its new Pangea III supercomputer, which has increased its computing power to 31.7 petaflops, the equivalent of 170,000 laptops combined.

The supercomputer has also tripled the company’s storage capacity to 76 petabytes (PB), which is the equivalent of 50 million HD movies.

Pangea III’s capacity is the latest addition to its predecessors Pangea I and II.

Total claimed that it is the number 1 most powerful supercomputer in the industry, and the 11th most powerful computer globally, public or private (TOP500 ranking).

Total exploration and production president Arnaud Breuillac said: “Pangea III’s additional computing power enhances Total’s operational excellence. It enables Total to reduce geological risks in exploration and development, accelerate project maturation and delivery, and increases the value of our assets through optimised field operations, with all this at a lower cost.”

Developed by IBM, the supercomputers also increase energy efficiency, dividing the power consumption per petaflop by 11. It is 1.5MW for Pangea III compared with 4.5MW for Pangea I and II.

Pangea III enables varied applications, especially in three fields, namely exploration and development of seismic imaging, development and production models, and asset valuation selectivity.

Its new algorithms can process large amounts of data more accurately at higher resolution, helping to more reliably locate hydrocarbons below ground. This is helpful in complex geologic environments where resources are trapped under salt.

Due to its increased computing power, the company can use innovative reservoir simulation methods that integrate more efficiently a field’s production history to generate more reliable and much faster predictive production models than earlier.

Pangea III also enables to improve business efficiency due to an early assessment of the value of exploration acreage and asset opportunities.

The supercomputer’s capabilities can also extend to new applications within the company such as molecular modelling to optimise refining processes or improving lubricants’ properties.

Moreover, the Pangea III enables the company’s R&D teams to test complex new algorithms and facilitate artificial intelligence solutions development.